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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Seeing Through Photographs by The Museum of Modern Art

4.8
stars
4,302 ratings

About the Course

Taking, sharing, and viewing photographs has become second nature for many of us. This course aims to address the gap between seeing and truly understanding photographs by introducing a diversity of ideas, approaches, and technologies that inform their making. You’ll explore the meaning of pictures and reconsider photography’s role in our visual culture. Look closely at 100 photographs from MoMA’s collection, going behind the scenes of the Museum and into artists’ studios through videos and audio interviews. Gain new perspectives on the ways photography has been used throughout the medium’s history: as a means of artistic expression, a tool for science and exploration, an instrument of documentation, a way to tell stories and record histories, and a mode of communication and critique....

Top reviews

AQ

Mar 8, 2016

Seeing Through Photographs has given me a whole new way of looking at my own and other peoples' work. So many aspects, details and points of view, the world of photography now seems even more amazing.

AD

Dec 25, 2019

This is a really great way to get a beginners academic insight into photography, really interesting video and written content. I learned a lot and enjoyed studying again, thank you MoMA and Coursera!

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951 - 975 of 1,112 Reviews for Seeing Through Photographs

By Bill D

Jan 28, 2017

A very fine course and an interesting and stimulating learning experience. The materials were great - based as they were on the vast archival resources of MOMA's photographic department. These were deployed to provide a quality course. It was particularly interesting to be introduced to photographers and work with which I was previously unfamilar - 'Evidence' and 'Carnival Strippers' in particular spring to mind. My only quibble was with the forums - which were ok, but compared to other coursera courses seemed to lack the engagement of tutors to pose searching questions and provide quality feedback. For some reason the forums were a little flat and didn't appear to stimulate e a high level of engagement . Other than this quibble, though, a hugely enjoyable and worthwhile course. Thank You!

By Lorenzo B

Feb 28, 2017

I enrolled the course expecting a little more vision on "how to read" a photograph, a composition, although thanks to the Curator I now understood that the context (time, environment, history, …) is important to that purpose.

I appreciated the competence with which she treated each subject and the interesting perspective given to the various modules. It gave me a new viewpoint in what photography really is.

Good videos and interviews made it easier to understand.

Some readings from the required and additional resources were difficult because of the concepts.

I personally found some topics (module 5 and 6) a bit abstract and difficult to follow, but I put myself into it to expand my knowledge and open my mind.

By Dennis W

Mar 29, 2022

I appreciate the breadth of the course, which covers a lot of the history as well as the techniques and underlying conceptualizing that went into this nice selection of photographers and their work. The instructor is great; she takes a casual but studied approach to photography-as-art, which renders her instructional style more palatable (to me) than someone who might take themselves and their expertise a bit more seriously. I was inspired by the course to branch out with my photography, to experiment with different techniques and approaches. That was the main reason I took the course, and I think it succeeded fairly well in pushing me to a more open-minded approach to the work I am doing.

By Asha H

May 20, 2020

I love this course. It definitely took some time to get into the groove of taking an online course but it was great and very insightful and meaningful to my career at an editorial stylist who works with photographers every day and someone who also takes pictures themselves and working hard to improve my skills as a photographer. The only reason that I wouldn't give this course or the other course I am taking 5 stars is because I think once you take the quiz at the end of every week the correct answers should be shown to the learner so you can see what the you answered (the incorrect answer) and see what it should have been. Thank you MoMA

By Brad B

Mar 9, 2017

As a photography professional but not a fine art student, I found this course valuable in understanding the evolution of photography from its role in historic image capture to become a form of social observation and artistic interpretation and statement. Understanding the evolution of the photograph has made me more aware of what artists working in the photographic medium are trying to represent through their works.

The course is not technical. It does not teach how to compose or develop a photograph. Rather, it is a lesson on the history of photography and using photography creatively through alternative and creative interpretation.

By Fernando C

Oct 4, 2020

The course is great! Very interesting contents.

Just a little suggestion: colud you make a little more interactive content, to make the learning experience even more exciting. For instance, the linking between the artists references and the museum collections while you are reading an essay, or maybe a map in which you can locate the artists´countries or the photographs locations. Even a timeline would be great, just to contextualize the different artists with some others or with other fine arts or historical events.

Thanks for your work. It was really worth the time!

By Débora B O

Apr 8, 2020

Really enjoyed the videos and interviews. It helps you see photographs in a more artistic, deep way. However, I feel the course could be way more connected to the recent times: how people see photography now, how social media distorces our view of the world, how diverse the photography world has become since cameras become cheaper... so much potential to be explored!

Another criticism I have is that I wasn't motivated to read most of the suggested articles, some were very painful to read.

Overall it's a good course for the photography lovers.

By Alan I

Mar 31, 2016

Very thorough, very nice, quite entertaining and interesting.

As someone who has a lot of trouble remembering names I found the quizzes quite hard (I was not pursuing the certificate so I didn't care if I failed) but I understand that since the class and the goals are subjective while the evaluation has to be objective it matters that those questions can be unambiguous.

All in all, I feel like I did learn to look at photographs differently, and to look at the world through photographs. I'll definitely recommend it to my friends!

By Mark P

Mar 20, 2016

Provides a good overview and appreciation of photographic images and their interpretation. The course material is well presented and easy to follow. There is a good range of extended reading provided, plus suggested further reading. The early course 'assessments' are a little bit odd in places, with very specific questions about a particular photography, that, in my opinion, do not add to the overall course experience, but overall its still worth it. If there was a more advanced follow on I'd be prepared to sign up.

By Alan N

May 12, 2020

The only loss of a star as the course wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting a more detailed course on how to look at and understand images. However this course takes you through much of the history and development of photography up to the present day and as to how we the public receive images and how to understand them. I have learnt to look at images much more carefully and to think more about them both as you see them and more as to their deeper meaning.

By Carla S

Apr 5, 2016

This is a very interesting course that helps you to understand how an image can be read and interpreted. The focus is very much on the veracity of photography and on the decisioning process which goes through the process of taking pictures. I really enjoyed studying for this course. However, I would expect something more in terms of revision of the final assignment. I would expect some feedback also in order to understand if my reasonings were correct.

By Pedro C F M d S

May 14, 2020

This course has helped me to increase my knowledge in the history of photograph, particularly the last weeks, which focused on more contemporary artists and allowed me to learn and critically analyse alternative forms of working with photographic material. Although the course does not include much technical information regarding the different photographic processes, it helps the learner to understand photography in a very comprehensive way.

By Alexia P d F

Apr 11, 2016

Very interesting and rewarding course. It has developed a lot my knowledge concerning photography's history and its different uses. As a french speaker with a good english level, I still need to say some parts were a bit difficult to understand, mostly some of the reading assignments. But don't worry, it's possible to achieve it. You definitely won't regret to have taken this course if you have a (small) interest in photography!

By Johanna A

Apr 26, 2016

This Course does a really great job in opening new perspectives about photography.

Each week stands for its own and yet they combine to give you a great understanding about photographies history, techniques and artistic value.

What I did not like that much, was that pretty much reading was required and that there was so much detailed information about the museums history included. That is why I rate 4/5

By Anastasia K

Dec 17, 2019

Excellent choice of articles and some very inspiring videos. However, it felt like some of the connections were a little tenuous and perhaps the organisation could be improved. Overall, a very enjoyable experience and some very interesting discussions in the main assignments. Almost more interesting to see what other people thought, than responding yourself. Thank you!

By David N

Mar 9, 2016

Well thought out course. I learned a lot.

Some of the supplemental materials were extremely dense with professor-speak. I found my learning ground to a slow crawl from having to look up as many a 5 words in some sentences and I have a Masters Degree.

In reading some of my peers essay submissions it seems that others may have had a similar difficulty with the material.

By Raffaele

Jul 12, 2022

It is really well taught, and changed my perspective of photography considerably. The only fault is, it is probably too focused on artworks owned by the MoMa. I did not entirely understand the relevance of some of those for the course, as some were debatably too abstract, but in general I think more variety and samples taken from outside MoMa-owned works would help.

By Georgina P

Apr 10, 2016

To me, Seeing through Photographs is a travel through time which let you to see how photography changed and improved to become what it is today: not only a science resource, or a way to save historical data but also it's a expressive way to comunicate a point of view. I recomend it to those who are starting to study photography or for once that loves art.

By Julián F

May 31, 2020

Me ha parecido un curso muy completo y muy interesante para completar mis conocimientos. La única pega (para mi) ha sido que es cierto que no estaba muy familiarizado con el mundo de la fotografía, por lo que muchas cosas no las comprendía del todo bien y quizá me hubiera gustado ver algún tema introductorio más básico. Por lo demás, un curso excelente.

By daniele g

Apr 2, 2016

I found the course very interesting , useful materials to support and unique and original contributions video.

Interviews with authors well made and full of new ideas on different topics.

Excellent multiple choice for testing, but it is really hard to understand the mistakes made or know the correct answer after passing the module.

By Andrea G A

May 24, 2020

I just found that many of the readings didn't include the pictures they were talking about. Otherwise the course was incredibly helpful and enlightening. I mostly enjoyed the video material with interviews with the artists and the possibility to read and interact with other students in real-time via the forums.

By Гаврилов А А

Jul 29, 2020

Course is more not about seeing through photographs but about history of photogrpahy. I hoped to see some best masterpieces of modern photographers and the course offers just photos made on current social topics as wars, poverty etc. In whole the course is interesting but in fact could be much more fascinating

By ANASTASIYA M

Jul 1, 2019

I had almost no knowledge of the field before starting this course, so it gave me a very good background of what does being a photographer actually mean, how has an understanding of a photograph been changing through years. This course is really nice for the start, I especially loved the topic "People"

By Victoria A

Apr 9, 2016

Thank you again... I really enjoyed the course! Great taster of modern & contemporary photography as well as artists who have made an impact on the craft. That said, I would love to have seen & learned more about the early photographic techniques, processes & images, i.e. Daguerreotypes, etc.

By Amelia

Mar 31, 2020

I came to this course with zero knowledge of photography, hoping to explore something i thought i might be interested in. This course definitely helped me to do that; the clear structure of the course meant i was able to learn about photography easily, without any prior knowledge. :)